The history of Bolivar is that of the revolutions in Columbia and Peru. Nothing remarkable is related of his early life; and with respect to his personal merits as a soldier and statesman, he has shared the common lot of eminent men, in being extravagantly praised and violently censured. He has been compared to CÆsar and Napoleon on the one hand; and he has been accused of frivolity, incompetency, and even cowardice, on the other. The time for forming a dispassionate opinion of his character is not yet arrived. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to a short sketch of the establishment of independence on the Spanish Main, so far as Bolivar was concerned in it; premising that we merely follow the course of history in giving him the credit of those measures which were carried into execution under his authority and ostensible guidance.

Simon Bolivar was born in the city of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, on the 24th or 25th of July, 1783. In early childhood he lost both his parents, who were of noble family, and possessed of large estates. At the age of fourteen or sixteen, he was sent to Spain for education. His habits are said to have been dissipated; but he paid some attention to the study of jurisprudence. After visiting Italy and France, he returned to Madrid, married, and in 1809 returned to reside on his estates near Caracas. It is positively asserted, and as positively denied, that Bolivar had an active share in the decisive movement at Caracas, April 19, 1810, when the Spanish authorities were deposed. A congress was summoned, which met March 2, 1811. Bolivar received a colonel’s commission, and was sent to claim the protection of Great Britain. The date of his return to South America we do not find: but he is said to have been concerned in the first military operations of the patriots; and in September, 1811, he was appointed governor of the strong sea-port of Puerto Cabello. In March, 1812, a violent earthquake took place. The clergy succeeded in producing a considerable reaction in favour of royalist principles, by representing this calamity to be a manifestation of God’s wrath against revolution. Monteverde, the royal general, then advanced, and met with rapid success. The strong hold of Puerto Cabello, the chief depÔt of the patriots, was wrested from Bolivar by an insurrection of the prisoners confined in it; the patriot army became dispirited; and General Miranda, under the sanction of congress, concluded a treaty, July 26, 1812, by which an amnesty was concluded, and the province of Venezuela returned under the dominion of Spain. Miranda was subsequently arrested on a futile charge of treachery to the patriot cause, and delivered to the Spaniards, who kept him in prison to the day of his death. In this unjustifiable transaction, Bolivar had a principal share.

Bolivar retired for a short time to his estate; but he soon became uneasy at the frequency of arrests, and obtained a passport to quit the country. He retired to CuraÇoa. In the following September, his active temper led him to seek employment in the patriot army of New Granada, which had declared itself independent in 1811, and still held out, with better fortune than Venezuela. He obtained a trifling command, not such as to satisfy his ambition; and on his own responsibility, he undertook an expedition against the Spaniards on the east bank of the river Magdalena, in which he succeeded; clearing the country of Spanish posts from Mompox, on the above named river, to the town of OcaÑa, on the frontier of Caracas. This exploit attracted public notice. He conceived the bold plan of invading Venezuela with his small forces, and the congress of New Granada consented to his making the attempt, and raised him to the rank of brigadier. He crossed the frontier with little more than 500 men; but the country rose in arms to second him; and after several engagements, in which the patriots were successful, he defeated Monteverde in person at the battle of Lastoguanes, and, finally, entered Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, in triumph, August 4, 1813.

At this time no regular government could be said to exist; but a convention of the chief civil and military functionaries, held at Caracas, January 2, 1814, conferred on Bolivar the title of Liberator of Venezuela, and invested him with the office of Dictator, and the supreme control over both branches of the executive. But these successes were followed by a rapid reverse; and before the end of the year, he was beaten out of Venezuela, and obliged to return to New Granada. That country was harassed by the contests of numerous and discordant parties. Bolivar was received with respect by the congress; and was entrusted with the task of compelling the dissentient province of Santa Fe de BogotÁ, afterwards named Cundinamarca, to accede to the union of the other provinces. He marched against the city of BogotÁ in December, at the head of 2000 men. It was not in a condition to resist, and capitulated, after the suburbs had been taken by storm. It will afford an instance of the difficulty of getting at the real character of Bolivar, to say, that we find it stated in one account that his behaviour at BogotÁ received not only the thanks of Congress, but the approbation of the citizens; while another author asserts, that notwithstanding the capitulation, and in spite of the most urgent remonstrances, he permitted the pillage of part of the city for the space of forty-eight hours. He was then appointed to act against the strong town of Santa Martha, which commands the mouth of the river Magdalena. Unfortunately, private enmity between himself and Castillo, the governor of Carthagena, led to dissensions which ended in the investment of Carthagena, instead of Santa Martha, by Bolivar. During this civil strife, which led to consequences most injurious to the patriot cause, General Morillo arrived from Spain, now enabled by the peace of 1814 to act with more vigour against her revolted colonies; and Bolivar gave up his command, on the pretext that the harmony and advantage of the army required it, and embarked for Jamaica, May 10, 1815. During his abode at Kingston, he narrowly escaped assassination at the hands of a Spaniard, who stabbed to the heart a person who chanced to occupy the bed in which Bolivar usually slept. From Jamaica, he went to Hayti, where, with the help of the president Petion, and in conjunction with a French officer, Commodore Brion, he drew together a force, with which he again raised the standard of independence in the province of Cumana, in May, 1816: but he was soon driven out of the country, and returned to Hayti, whence, in December, he again sailed to the island of Margarita, and he issued a proclamation convoking a congress of the representatives of Venezuela. He then repaired to Barcelona, and organised a provisional government. During the years 1817 and 1818, the struggle was obstinate; but the patriot cause on the whole gained a decided advantage. In February 1819, Bolivar summoned a congress at Angostura, on the river Orinoco, and resigned his authority into its hands. The assembly, however, continued to him the executive power, with the title of Provisional President of Venezuela, until the expulsion of the enemy should afford a prospect of more settled times.

Bolivar rejoined the army in March, and soon after conducted his forces to join the patriots in New Granada. Two battles, on the 1st and 23d of July, were fought to the advantage of the patriots, whose cause obtained a final triumph in the decisive victory won August 7, at Bojaca. Bolivar advanced at once to BogotÁ, where he was enthusiastically welcomed; and within a short time, eleven provinces of New Granada announced their adhesion to the cause of independence. He summoned a congress, by which he was appointed President, and Captain-general of the Republic. Meanwhile a party, jealous of his intentions, had obtained the ascendancy in the Venezuela Congress held at Angostura; and Bolivar, fearful of being supplanted, quitted the scene of war with his best troops and marched to Angostura. His presence, with such a force, turned the scale in favour of the party attached to his interest. It was determined to summon a general convention from the independent provinces of Venezuela and Granada; and December 17, 1819, the celebrated decree was passed by which the two states were united, and entitled the Republic of Columbia. Bolivar was appointed President.

Strengthened by union, the patriots took the field in greater force than they had hitherto been able to raise. The course of war during 1820 was on the whole favourable to them. In November, an armistice for six months was concluded. Soon after the renewal of hostilities, an important victory was gained by the Columbian troops under Bolivar, at Carabobo, not far from the city of Valencia, June 21, 1821, which may be regarded as having closed the war in Venezuela. Before the end of the year, Columbia was nearly cleared of Spanish troops, with the exception of the province of Quito; and time was found to attend to the establishment of civil order. The constitution of the short-lived Columbian Republic was adopted, August 20, 1821, and Bolivar was appointed First Constitutional President.

The war was then directed against the Spaniards in the south. In January, 1822, Bolivar himself conducted operations in the province of Pasto, lying to the north of Quito, while General Sucre, who had been sent previously to assist the cause of independence in Guayaquil, after liberating the southern provinces of Loxa and Cuenca, advanced northwards, and secured independence to the province of Quito by the decisive victory of Pichincha, May 24, 1822. But though this portion of Columbia was now cleared of enemies, there could be no security to the frontier provinces while the Spaniards held Peru; and it was therefore determined to send assistance to the patriots in that country. Bolivar landed at Lima, September 1, 1823, and was invested with supreme power as Dictator of Peru. It was not until the end of 1825, however, that the war of independence was finished; and the honour of this, in a military point of view, belongs rather to Sucre than to Bolivar.

On the establishment of a separate republic in 1825, in the province called by the Spaniards Upper Peru, the new state paid a high compliment to the Liberator, by assuming the name of Bolivia, and requesting him to draw up a constitution for its adoption. In compliance with the wish thus expressed, he presented to the constituent congress in May, 1826, the celebrated Bolivian Code; for an account of which we must refer to the ‘EncyclopÆdia Americana,’ or the appendix to the ‘Memoirs of General Miller.’ This forms a remarkable era in Bolivar’s life; for, out of the institutions of this code, arose the first suspicions that the Liberator was at heart indisposed to republican institutions. It was however adopted; and Sucre was appointed President. Meanwhile, though the deliverance of Peru was completed, Bolivar showed no intention of leading home the Columbian troops. A congress summoned at Lima, in February, 1825, continued to him, for another year, the dictatorial power which he had received on his first entrance into the country. A second congress, held in 1826, adopted the same course, adding a recommendation that he should consult the provinces as to the form of government which it might be desirable to establish. The result was, that the Bolivian Code was declared to be adopted by Peru, and Bolivar himself was nominated President.

During the Liberator’s long absence in the south, the northern provinces of Columbia became involved in civil confusion. The Vice-president, General Santander, was a man of firmness and ability; but the newly-formed government wanted consistency, and that habitual respect which is paid to long recognised authority. In April, 1826, General Paez, who commanded in Venezuela, being summoned before the senate of Columbia to answer certain charges, refused obedience, trusting to the devoted attachment of the troops under his command: and to this private act of rebellion, something of a national character was given, by the accession of many in Venezuela, who disapproved of the union with New Granada, or distrusted the intentions of those who held the reins of power. At the same time, the southern departments, which had formerly composed the presidency of Quito, displayed a strong inclination to adopt the Bolivian Code. Bolivar has not escaped the suspicion of having fomented these troubles, with a view to convince all parties that tranquillity could only be secured by strengthening the executive, by appointing him Dictator of the Columbian Republic. Being recalled for the suppression of these disturbances, he quitted Lima in September, 1826, and hastened to Caracas, where, instead of punishing, he met Paez upon friendly terms, confirmed him in the office which he held, and published a general amnesty on the submission of the insurgents. The term for which he was elected President had now expired. He had been re-elected, and should have gone through the forms of taking office at the beginning of 1827; but in February, he announced his intention to resign, and retire to his estates, in consequence of the imputations of ambition cast upon him. The spring was spent by Congress in discussing this matter; and at last, June 6, it was finally determined not to accept his resignation, and a general convention was summoned to meet at OcaÑa, March 2, 1828, to revise the constitution. In September, Bolivar again assumed the office of President.

Meanwhile a speedy revolution had taken place in Peru. It is no great argument of Bolivar’s purity of purpose, that, a year after the war was finished, the Columbian auxiliaries were still retained by him in Bolivia and Peru, one division being quartered in the former country, and two in the latter. Many of them were strongly attached to their general, and perhaps had no objection to becoming instruments of his ambition, so far as Peru was concerned. But when he incurred the suspicion of meditating the overthrow of the Columbian constitution, they took fire. The division quartered at Lima matured a plan of revolt, arrested their generals, who were personally attached to Bolivar, and announced to the authorities of Lima their desire to relieve the Peruvians from a constitution which had been forced upon them, and to return home to defend their own country. Hereupon, in concurrence with the generally declared wish of the people throughout Peru, the Bolivian Code was thrown aside only a few weeks after it had been adopted; and in June, 1827, a new congress was summoned, and a new President and Vice-president of the republic were elected. The troops embarked; but on their landing in Columbia, part placed themselves under the orders of officers sent to take the command of them, and the rest were easily reduced to obedience.

The convention met at the appointed time. Bolivar opened the proceedings with an address, in which he ascribed the internal troubles of Columbia to the want of sufficient power in the executive department, and plainly intimated his opinion that the constitution had been founded on views too liberal to be adapted to the state of society existing in that country. His speech was very much in accordance with the views developed in the Bolivian Code, and furnished good reason for believing that he was no less willing to accept supreme power than his friends were disposed to invest him with it, as the only remedy for existing evils. The majority of the convention, however, were suspicious of the President’s intentions. Finding themselves in a minority, his friends vacated their seats in the assembly, which being thus reduced below the number necessary to give validity to its proceedings, became virtually extinct.

In this state of things, a meeting was convened at BogotÁ, June 13, of the principal civil and military residents, at which resolutions were passed investing Bolivar with the most extensive powers as Supreme Chief of Columbia. He himself was not present, but in the near neighbourhood; and on receiving intimation of these resolutions, he made a solemn entry into BogotÁ, June 20, and assumed the powers thus gratuitously bestowed upon him, not, it is to be observed, by the act of the convention, or of any body authorised to interfere in any way with the existing constitution. Great dissatisfaction was felt by those who were not attached to the party of Bolivar; and in the following September, a conspiracy was organised in the garrison of BogotÁ, to which the President’s life had nearly fallen a sacrifice. It was quelled however. General Santander, the Vice-president, was accused of being concerned in it, and was banished from Columbia. Partial insurrections subsequently broke out in various places. Towards the close of 1829, the discontent which had formerly appeared in Venezuela, manifested itself more decidedly. Paez put himself at the head of the dissatisfied party; and in a very short time, the whole province raised the standard of independence, and expressed its determination to be merged no longer in the Columbian Republic. In the midst of these tumults, Bolivar resolved at length to retire from the eminent station in which he had been the cause of so much offence. He had issued a proclamation, December 24, 1828, summoning a convention in January, 1830, to frame a new permanent constitution for Columbia. It met at the appointed time. Bolivar, in opening the deliberations, expressed his determination not to accept again the chief magistracy of the state; but, as he had said the same thing in equally strong terms before, nobody paid much attention to the declaration. This time, however, he adhered to it. Besides the labour of making a new constitution, the convention had to discuss the difficult question of the secession of Venezuela: nor was this all, for as that district had separated itself from the Columbian Republic, in a great degree Owing to its distrust of Bolivar, so the southern provinces refused to acknowledge the new constitution unless he were placed at its head. The convention wisely resolved, with respect to Venezuela, that every peaceful method should be tried to prevent its secession, but that it would not be expedient or proper to attempt to maintain the union by force. To anticipate a little the order of time, the Venezuelans were resolved to have an independent government; and finally, in 1832, the short-lived republic of Columbia was divided into three, bearing respectively the titles of Venezuela, New Granada, and the Republic of the Equator, which was formed out of the southern provinces of Quito, Guayaquil, and Assuai.

After the adoption of the new constitution of 1830, Bolivar retired to the province of Carthagena, exhausted both in body and mind. He died at Santa Martha, December 17, 1830, leaving a character on the merits of which it is difficult to pronounce a decided opinion. His name will not soon be forgotten, for it is indissolubly connected with the cause of independence in South America: but, in reviewing the progress and prospects of North and South America, it is impossible not to remark Bolivar’s inferiority to Washington, both in talent and virtue, and not to reflect with regret how different, in all probability, the conduct and the prosperity of the South American republics would have been if they had possessed such a leader as the first President of the United States.

The chief books which have been consulted for this sketch have been the ‘Annual Register,’ General Ducoudray Holstein’s ‘Memoirs of Bolivar,’ a work evidently written under strong feelings of personal hostility, the article Bolivar in the ‘EncyclopÆdia Americana,’ and a short account of the Liberator in the ‘Memoirs of General Miller.’ In these works there is so much discrepancy, not only of opinions, but of facts and dates, that we do not venture to hope that we have escaped errors. A clear and impartial history of the war of independence is still a desideratum.